Leland G. Spencer is assistant professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary and Communication Studies and affiliate faculty member in the Department of Media, Journalism, and Film and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Miami University.

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1: Exploring ShalomChapter 2: Bishop Marjorie Swank Matthews: Liberal Ideological Warrants and the Unrealized Potential of ShalomChapter 3: Bishop Leontine Turpeau Current Kelly: Toward an Ironic Prophetic RhetoricChapter 4: Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Possibilities for a Progressive CivilityChapter 5: The United Methodist Church and Human Sexuality: An Eschatological Horizon?Conclusion: Multiple Paths to ShalomReferences About the Author

Spencer’s compelling, nuanced analysis of women bishops’ rhetoric offers keen and timely insights about intersections of gender, power, religion, and politics. Yet it is his articulation of shalom as a model for peaceful community that takes my breath away—Spencer’s vision offers hope, guidance, and a call for social and political transformation based on the eloquent words of trailblazing women of God. A must-read for scholars and students in rhetoric, women’s and gender studies, and social change!